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An Exposition of
The Litany
by
The Rt. Rev. A. C. A. Hall, D.D., LL.D.
Bishop of Vermont
Milwaukee :
The Young Churchman Co.
London :
A. R. Mowbray & Co.
1914
AN EXPOSITION OF
THE LITANY
An Exposition of
Tiie Litany
by
The Rt. Rev. A. C. A. Hall, D.D., LL.D.
Bishop of Vermont
•5 J #0 »
Milwaukee :
The Young Churchman Co.
London :
A. R. Mowbray & Co.
1914
pr
^5t ir. I.IBKA^^
;-:'^--.
COPYRIGHT 1914
BY
THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface vii
The Litany ix
The Invocation of the Tri-une God . 1
The Deprecation of God's Wrath . . 15
For Deliverance from Spiritual Sins 29
From Carnal and Worldly Sins . 34
From External Calamities . . 39
From Corporate and Social Evils 45
The Obsecrations 49
Supplications for Christ's People at
Large 61
For Various Classes According to
Their Spiritual Needs ... 71
For Various Classes According to
Their TeXh^oral T/ecesoiI'Ies • ; ., 84
For Enemies, > por'^' '^liE iFiiUiTfe '. OF.
THE Earth^ for ,T^D'e, Be^e-ntance 97
The Agnus Dei, KVRifc^,,'' lA,Nii "» Other
Prayers . .: .'jV.V.; A ^.t^; . 102
The Prayer of St* GH'nYdo'sTO'M ^aInd.; the
Grace 108
Note on International Peace . . . 112
[V]
PREFACE
The Litany might well form a starting-
point for lectures on dogmatic and moral the-
ologj^ What is. chiefly attempted in the fol-
lowing pages, with brief and simple but ac-
curate treatment of doctrinal points, is in-
struction on Prayer,
to whom we pray,
for what, and for whom,
as we are guided by the Lit-any. The whole
of the exposition was given in nine half-hour
instructions at St. Paul's, Burlington, during
the last Advent and Lenten seasons. The
book might easily be used for reading to a
congregation in a similar manner.
For convenience in this or in private use,
a space is left marking sections with groups
of petitions, though the book is not divided
into chapters.
Though I am not conscious of having di-
rectly used his book save for the quotation
on page 86, one could hardly, in putting out
an exposition of the Litany, refrain from men-
tioning the Commentary on the Litany, by
Bishop Alexander Forbes of Brechin (pub-
[vii]
AX EXPOSITIOX OF THE LTTAXY
lished in 1855, and I am afraid now out of
print), from which, as from other books of
his, many of lis in younger days learned much
for faith and for devotion.
A. C. A. H.
Burlington, Vermont,
Easter-tide, 1914.
[viii]
The Litany is a solemn form of entreaty, in
which responses are a prominent feature. Such
litanies were often sung- in procession, particu-
larly on occasions of penitence and special sup-
plication. Our Litany is, with very slight al-
terations, the oldest part of the existing Prayer
Book in the English language, having been put
forth in 1544, translated and enlarged by Arch-
bishop Cranmer from the earlier Latin forms.
Several of Cranmer's additions seem to have
been taken from Luther's Litany, as is the
suffrage inserted in the American Prayer Book
of 1892, "that it may please thee to send forth
labourers into thy harvest."
[ix]
THE Litany in the Pra\er Book is
taken as the starting point for these
Spiritual Instructions, specially with a;
view to speaking about Prayer — what to
pray about, for whom to pray, to whom we
pray. Spiritual Instructions they are in-
tended to be. So I shall only incidentally
touch on the history of the Litany or its
liturgical use. In the same way there
must of necessity be a good deal of doc-
trine, both theological and moral ; but this
will be treated not in an abstract manner,
but for its practical bearing.
The Litany begins with an invocation of
each Person 'of the Trinity, and an address
to the Trinity, that is, to God in His three-
fold mode of being or existence. Then
the greater part of the Litany is addressed
to our Lord Jesus Christ ; He is the ''good
Lord," whom we ask to deliver us, whom
we beseech to hear us. These two points
at once suggest the question, to whom
[1]
AX EXPOSITION OF
should we ])vay i The answer is plain, —
to God and God alone, the Supreme Being,
the Source and the End of all life, Omni-
present, Omniscient, Infinite and Eternal ;
having all the powers that we have, but in
higher perfection, in whose image our spir-
itual being is made,' a conscious, intelli-
gent, self-determining, that is, a personal
Being.
To such an one we pa^ supreme worship
of entire self-oblation and self-surrender
(this, remember, is a real element in all
true prayer), and to such an one we pres-
ent our petitions confident of His ability
and readiness to hear and to answer our
prayers. But this is neither a due nor a
reasonable attitude tow^ards any created
being, how^ever highly exalted; for in-
stance, an archangel, chief among heaven-
ly intelligences, or the blessed Virgin
Mary, chief of saints, and the Mother ac-
cording to His human nature of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
They are fellow-members with us in God's
Genesis i. 27.
[2]
THE LITAXY
family, our elder brothers and sisters, with
whom we have communion or fellowship of
life and interests. The saints pray for us
and with us, and ^Ye pray ivith and for
them, as one body to our common God and
Father ; but we do not pray to them. Invo-
cation in the sense of asking the Saints to
pray for us may be defended, as we may
ask one another's jDrayers on earth; only
there is this difference, that we have no
ascertained mode of communication with
the departed, as we have with brethren
Avho are still in the body. I do not say
that there may not be such modes of com-
munication. With the wonder of wireless
messages about us, it would be a rash thing
to say that we cannot communicate with
disembodied spirits. But I do say that
the matter being so uncertain, it is better
and wiser to ask God that we may benefit
by the prayers of His saints in heaven, as
by those of His whole Church on earth.
The practice of formal and stated prayers
to the saints, offered on our knees and in
connexion with praj^ers to God, is mislead-
ing and tends (as history shows, and by
[3]
AN EXPOSITION OF
this experience the Church should profit)
to a confusion in the minds of ordinary
people between prayers to God and such ad-
dresses to created beings. It was on this
account that the invocations of Saints,
which formerly had a place in the Litany,
were omitted, and are altogether excluded
from the Prayer Book and from the public
worship of the reformed Church.
The greater part of the Litany (as has
been said) is addressed to our Lord Jesus
Christ. This is because lie is God, the
Second Person of the Trinity, and would
not otherwise be defensible. Prayer is
addressed to a person, not to a nature, still
less to any part or organ of Christ's nature,
like the Sacred Heart. We pray to our
Lord because He is God; we may find it
easier to pray to Him inasmuch as He is
the Person of the Godhead who has be-
come incarnate and drawn near to us, as-
suring us thereby of His sympathy and un-
derstanding. When we call upon Him by
a human title, as ^'Son of man," or ''Son of
David," our prayer is directed to the di-
vine Person, w^ho bears the human title, as
[4]
THE LITANY
He wears the human nature. It is not
that the Second Person of the Trinity,
the Son, is as such easier of approach than
the First Person, the Father, or more mer-
ciful and considerate ; but that the Son
is the Person of the Godhead who has
taken and still wears our nature, and so is
Emmanuel, God with us, now and ever as
well as during the thirty years of His so-
journ on earth.
One weighty objection to the invocation
of Saints is that it tends to obscure the
real position of our Lord Jesus Christ as
the object of Christian prayer. The Chris-
tian religion knows of no secondary
or created deities, nor worships any
created being. This was the argu-
ment of Catholic theologians like Ath-
anasius in the Arian controversy,
against those who denied the true Godhead
of our Lord. ^'You worship Jesus Christ,
as did the apostles, and pray to Him," —
they said to the Arians. ^'Yes, but as a
secondary deity," Arians in substance re-
plied. ^^Of this the Christian religion
knows nothing," said the Catholics. ^'The
[5]
AX EXPOSITION OF
Lord Jesus can only be worshipped by
Christians on the ground that He is God,
of one substance or inner being Avith the
Father." Had there been at that time any
common practice of the invocation of the
Saints, the Catholic argument would have
been seriously lessened in force. The
practice tends, however unintentionally,
not only to an undue exaltation of the
Saints, but to a degradation of our Lord
Jesus Christ.'
- See Dr. Blight's The Age of the Fathers, vol.
I, p. 74 ; and such passages as the following in
the works of St. Athanasius translated in the
Niccne and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. IV, pp. 157,
:3G0, 3G1, 400, 575, 57G. "We do not worship a
creature. Far be the thought. For such an error
belongs to heathens and Arians. But we worship
the Lord of creation. Incarnate, the Word of God.
For if the llesh also is in itself a part of the
created world, yet it has become God's body. And
we neither divide the body, being such, from the
Word, and worship it by itself, nor when we wor-
ship the Word do we set Him far apart from the
flesh, but knowing that the Word was made
flesh, we recognize Him as God also, after having
come in tlie flesh." "Creature does not worship
creature, but servant Lord, and creature God,"
referring to Acts x. 26, and Rev. xxii. 0. For the
worship paid to our Lord, see also Dr. Liddon's
Bampton Lectures, pp. 385 sq. (16th ed. )
[6]
THE LITANY
Well then it is God, and God alone, to
whom we praj, at any rate in the strict
sense of the word. But, it is objected,
we pray to each Person of the Trinity.
Yes, but these are not separate Gods. The
word ^^person" when applied to the Trinity
does not mean so much as it means when
we ordinarily use it of an individual man
or woman. The term is used in reference
to the Trinity for want of a better and
more accurate term. Our language is con-
fessedly inadequate for the full and exact
expression of divine realities.' Two points
about the Trinity I want to impress upon
you. (a) One is this: We must always
in thinking of the Trinity begin with the
thought and realization of God's absolute
and indivisible Oneness. It was not until
this truth had been thoroughly impressed
upon, hammered into, we might say, the
mind of Israel by Old Testament teachers
and prophets that God ventured to disclose
' I may refer to eh. Ill on "God the Tri-une
Being," in my Doctrine of the Church (Sewanee
Theological Library) for a fuller exposition of
this, with references.
[7]
AX EXPOSITION OF
inner distinctions within the One divine
Being, distinctions which for want of bet-
ter terminology we speak of as ^'persons."
We mnst begin with the Oneness and then
recognize within that Oneness a Threeness.
If we begin with the thonght of the Three,
and work back to the One, we shall almost
certainly go wrong, and regard the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost as we think
of three individual men sharing one com-
mon nature. But that would be three
Gods, not One God existing in a threefold
manner, and would be an idea altogether
foreign to the Scriptural and Catholic doc-
trine of the Trinity. You may find this
illustration helpful. Our own inner being
(call it soul or spirit as you please) is
indissolubly one. But within this one
sjnritual being — the ''I" in us — we per-
ceive a distinction of powers (memory, un-
derstanding and choice), each of which has
its proper function on behalf of the whole
person, wdiile all work together as one ; so
that we can either say T remend^er, or my
memory recalls; I think, or my under-
standing reasons ; I choose, or my will de-
[8]
THE LITAXY
cides. Even so God creates, or the Father ;
God redeems, or the Son ; God sanctifies, or
the Holy Ghost ; that is, we attribute these
different operations of God to one or other
of the Persons of the Trinity.
(b) Another way of regarding the Trin-
ity, not expressing the whole truth, but
that which perhaps it is most important
for us at first to grasp, is to think of the
Father as God simply, in His infinite be-
ing, absolutely spiritual, everywhere pres-
ent, underlying all while above all, baffl-
ing our imagination and bewildering our
understanding; the Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, is God as man, in our nature and
amid our circumstances, acting out God's
character (for this. He must be of one na-
ture with the Father, the very same God),
translating the divine perfections into
language we can understand, the language
of human conduct. The Holy Ghost is
God in men and women, reproducing in
us the character of our Father, which was
acted out before us by our Lord. This is
not denying or ignoring the fact that there
are these three eternal distinctions in the
[9]
AN EXPOSITION OF
divine being, anterior to and independent
of any relation to created life. The eternal
and essential distinctions are back of the
threefold manifestations and relation's
in which God stands to us.
Here it may be remarked that while the
word Trinity* is not Scriptural, that for
which it stands is plainly taught in the
^ew Testament, especially by our Lord
Himself in His last discourse (St. John
xiv-xvi), and implied in the apostolic
writings. For instance, our Lord says,
^'I will pray the Father and he shall give
you another Comforter or Helper, even the
Spirit of truth, that he may abide with
you for ever'' (xv. 16) ; and ^'When the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto
you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father,
he shall testify of me" (xvi. 26).
So we pray to God the Father, of or
from Heaven (that is, our heavenly Fa-
ther), the Source of all life and being, to
* The word ''Trinity'' r/atas is first found in
Theophilus of Antiocli, A. D. 180; Trinitas a lit-
tle later in Tertullian.
[10]
THE LITANY
have mercy upon us in our feebleness,
who are yet the work of His hands, and in
our sin, having abused the gifts which
He has bestowed, and transgressed His
commandments which mark out the path
of our peace and welfare. All our gifts,
powers and organs are His creation to be
used in obedience to His commandments,
for His purposes. We appeal to His fath-
erly care for His children. We pray to
God the Son, incarnate, our Redeemer or
Deliverer, who took our nature, shouldered
our burden, met our temptations, con-
quered our enemies, and so rescued us from
bondage to sin and Satan; especially to
pardon us for all our setting at naught of
His example and teaching and our thwart-
ing of His purposes ; we pray that all that
He has done and borne for us may not be
in vain. We pray to Him as the Redeemer
of the world, not of a select few only,
nor of the white race. We must make
this redemption and rescue known to all,
and seek to have all restored since all have
been redeemed. We pray to God the Holy
[11]
AX EXPOSITION OF
Ghost, our Sanctifier, who comes forth
from the Father our Creator and the Son
our Kedeemer, to perfect the work of each ;
especially to pardon us for our neglect of
His warnings and our failure to correspond
with His inspirations and to make use of
His grace and help. We pray that He
would conform us to our Father's likeness
after the example of our Elder Brother
Jesus Christ. We ask mercv for marriui!:
creation, for frustrating redemption, for
grieving and quenching the Spirit.
After our prayer to each Person of the
Trinity, as if to guard against any mis-
understanding or erroneous conception of
the Three Persons as if they were three
separate gods, we pray to the Trinity,
"holy, blessed and glorious," that is, not
only to the Three Persons in One God, but
(this is perhaps in our day the more im-
portant thought) to the One God in three
Persons, the One God existing in a three-
fold way, with a threefold distinction ; not
as a solitary individual or unit (in that
case wo could not think of God's nature as
[12]
THE LITANY
being essentially Love)/ but as having
within Himself a certain social life, which
constitutes His own blessedness. Into this
communion or fellowship He would admit
us — to be children of a heavenly Father, as
members of His only-begotten Son, guided
and inspired by His indwelling Spirit of
love and truth and purity. So, as St.
Peter says, we are made partakers of the
divine nature.' The expression ''miser-
able sinners," with which each of these
invocations ends, is sometimes objected to.
We may doubt whether, if we were com-
piling the Litany afresh, we should put
it in. I admit that (like the General
Confession at daily Morning and Evening
Prayer) it seems rather exaggerated in
emphasis for constant use. But it is true !
0 God the Father of Heaven; have mercy
upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Son, Eedeemer of the world ; have
mercy upon us miserable sinners.
O God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the
' I John iv. 8.
«II Pet. i. 4.
[ 13 ]
AN EXPOSITION OF THE LITANY
Father and the Son; have mercy upon us mis-
erable sinners.
O holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three
Persons and one God; have mercy upon us
miserable sinners.
[14]
THE Litany opens with Invocations,
calling upon the Trinity (as we may
say, individually and collectively) ; on
these Invocations follow Deprecations,
prayers addressed to our Lord Jesus Christ
that we may be delivered fro7n various
kinds of evil ; these in turn are followed by
what are called Obsecrations, in which we
plead hy what our Lord has done and suf-
fered for us. Then come Supplications,
prayers for various classes of persons and
for various gifts and blessings for ourselves
and others.
The first two sentences among the De-
precations, beginning ^'Remember not,
Lord, our offences" and ^Trom all evil and
mischief" will furnish more than sufficient
matter for our consideration now. I do
not propose to treat the words or clauses
in their exact order ; but rather to take the
leading thoughts that are expressed in these
prayers in what may be a natural connex-
[15]
AX EXPOSITIOX OF
ion or sequence, commenting briefly on
each. What I should sav we specially
need here, as so commonly, is to free our
minds from popular misconceptions, and
to see religious truths in a reasonable light,
and as they may be stated in harmony with
the intelligence and conscience of today.
1. The first prominent thought, the^i,
in these Deprecations is that of God's
Wrath. ^'Take not vengeance of our
sins" ; ^'be not an2;rv with us forever" ;
^'from Thy wrath, good Lord, deliver us."
So we are taught to pray.
God's Avrath, it is a most solemn
thought ; more than that, it is an awful
reality, a necessity, we may say, of His
being. A perfectly holy Being must abhor
and detest what is evil — what is contrary
to His own nature and character, of truth
and love and purity ; what disturbs and
violates the order He has established, and
ruins the creatures He has made. God
cannot close His eyes to evil round about,
nor can He be indifferent to what He sees.
As a conscious, intelligent, moral Per-
son, He must approve or disapprove that
[16]
THE LITANY
which he beholds, and this with all the in-
tensity of His being. God's anger is not
of the nature of an impulsive feeling, like
our vexation or bad temper; rather it is
the steady attitude of hostility on the part
of a perfectly holy Being towards disorder
and wrong/
From this we pray that we may be de-
livered. And the sure way of deliverance
is in escape, by His grace and our repent-
ance, from the Avrong and sin which must
provoke His displeasure, w^herever it is
found and so long as it exists. God ever
distinguishes, as we must learn to distin-
guish, between the sinner and the sin. He
pities the sinner, while He hates the sin.
He seeks to disentangle the wrong-doer
from his wrong-doing. While the sinner
wraps himself in his sin, refuses to be
separated from it, he must remain an ob-
ject of God's displeasure. '^The wrath of
God abideth upon him." ' "The wrath of
■ Rom. i. 8. See my volume on The Forgiveness
of ^ins, p. 4, and the references there given.
«John iii. 36.
[IT]
AN EXPOSITION OF
the Lamb" "* of the incarnate Son, our Sav-
iour, who gave His life to free men from
the power of evil, has a peculiar terror, like
the anger of one ordinarily self-controlled
and gentle, but blazing forth in fierce pur-
ity against manifest wrong — high-handed
oppression, it may be, or the selfish ruin
of those who by their feebleness or inno-
cence had a claim on our protection.
2. So we naturally pass to the thought
of everlasting damnation. '^From Thy
wrath and from everlasting damnation,
good Lord, deliver us." [N'ow here the way
to free our minds from all sorts of diffi-
culties and objections is to think of the
doom of the wicked — here and hereafter —
in the light of Loss rather than of Punish-
ment, not so much as something inflicted
by another, as of ruin brought upon them-
selves by their owa folly and wrong-doing."
It is as with a squandered fortune, or
wasted opportunities, or with health ruined
through carelessness or dissipation — each
^Rev. vi. 10.
^°See The Forgiveness of Sims, p. 8, and ref-
erences.
[18]
THE LITANY
of these may be regarded as a punishment
inflicted ; it is more naturally thought of as
a consequence in which our own foolish
conduct has involved us. It is the work-
ing out of the gTeat law of retribution
which obtains throughout the whole of
God's universe, moral as well as material;
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." "
We sow our thoughts and reap our ac-
tions,
We sow our actions and reap our habits,
We sow our habits and reap our charac-
ters.
We shall sow our character and reap
our destiny.
We see that there is nothing unreason-
able, nothing incompatible with God's jus-
tice or with His loving purpose for us, in
the possibility (we need not say more) of
irretrievable disaster and ruin, where a
man deliberately and persistently rejects
good and chooses evil. He may involve
himself in everlasting damnation, in un-
Gal. vi. 1, 8; Rev. xxii. 11, 12.
[19]
AX EXrOSITiOX OF
ending loss. Of this we are sure, that God
rejects none who do not persistently re-
ject Him, that He will lose none whom
He can save, consistently with His res-
l^ect for the free-will with which He has
endowed man. Xo sin, we may say, is
unpardonable on true repentance; but the
sinner may lose the power to repent.''
Save us then, O Lord, from Thy wrath
and from everlasting danniation by deliv-
ering us from the sin which involves these
dreadful evils.
3. We see f)'0}n vital we are redeemed
or delivered. To redeem means to deliver
at cost, to rescue. Xot primarily from
God's wrath; it was God's love that sent
His Son to be our redeemer. Xot chiefly
from Hell. That was not the angel's ex-
planation of the name to be given to the
Holy Child. ''His Name shall be called
Jesus, for He shan save His people from
their sins" ;'' not from the consequences
of their sins, but from the sins themselves.
^Heb. vi. 4-G.
•^Matt. i. 21.
[20]
THE LITANY
from their pride and hate, their lust and
greed, their fraud and sloth, from all that
mars their manhood, and causes them
shame, and of necessity calls forth God's
displeasure. As we are delivered from
physical death by the disease which would
lead to death being cured ; so, and so only,
can we be saved from God's wrath and
from everlasting damnation by being de-
livered from sin, of which these are the
inevitable fruit and end."
Accordingly this is our entreaty, "From
all evil and mischief; from sin, from the
crafts and assaults of the devil ; from Thy
wrath and from everlasting damnation,
good Lord, deliver us." Like the explan-
ation of the Lord's Prayer in the Cate-
chism, this is an expansion of the peti-
tion "Deliver us from evil" — that is from
sin, the evil tiling; from Satan the evil
''person; from Hell, the evil place or state;
from all sin and wickedness, and from our
spiritual enemy, and from everlasting
death."
Pvom. vi. 21, 23.
[21]
AX EXPOSITION OF
Sin is the wilful transgression of God's
laws. These are not arbitrarily imposed ;
they are the expression of His wisdom
and goodness, they mark out the path
of our peace and welfare/' The essence
of sin is the rebellion of the will of the
creature against the will of the Creator,
the withdrawal of fellowship with Him.
4. Thus the devil sinned, a spiritual
intelligence misusing his free Avill and be-
coming irretrievably set in evil, bent on
ruining God's work, by violence or deceit
(assault or craft) seeking to turn men and
women from the obedience to God in which
their true freedom is found.
5. From bondage to sin and Satan we
are "redeemed with Christ's most precious
Blood." '' We must not allow any mater-
ial conception of Christ's Blood to remain
in our minds. Blood throughout Scrip-
ture is the symbol of life." Blood shed
stands for life laid down or taken. Blood
sprinkled for life communicated. So that
I John iii. 4, v. 3; Deut. vi. 24.
J Peter i. 18, 19.
Gen. ix. 4; Lev. xvii. 11; I John i. 7.
[22]
THE LITANY
the meaning of being redeemed by Christ's
Blood, is that we are freed from sin (and
so from all its consequences) by, at the
cost of, all the struggles, pains and toils
of Christ's earthly life; by His absolute
obedience to His Father's will at whatever
cost, in spite of every obstacle, even though
it involve death; by His painful and
shameful death as the climax of His life
of perfect obedience;'' thus He gained a
moral victory over sin and Satan, and
broke the power of evil, enabling us, if we
will follow His steps and seek His aid,
to claim our freedom.
This is the real deliverance or rescue
from evil on which we must chiefly fix our
minds, for which above all we should ask
in these petitions of the Litany — freedom
from moral evil itself, and so (let me re-
peat once more) from any and all of its
consequences. I do not say that this is the
only aspect of redemption, nor the one
which was most prominent in the minds of
the compilers of the Litany. They prob-
Phil. ii. 8.
[23]
AN EXPOSITION OF
ably, as was conimou in former days, laid
special stress on the thought of sin as an
offence against God which needed pardon.
This is the aspect emphasized in the Dies
iyae, where we plead for pardon for our
Lord's sake rather than for renewal by His
grace.
King of majesty tremendous.
Who dost free salvation send us.
Fount of pity, then befriend us!
Think, kind Jesu, my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation;
Leave me not to reprobation!
Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
All my shame with anguish owning;
Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!
Thou the sinful woman savedst;
Thou tlic dying thief forgavest;
And to me a hope vouchsafest.
Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires midying!
Both aspects, parchni for His sake and
renewal by His grace, are to some extent
combined in the thought of acceptance in
Christ. The two thoughts are linked to-
[24]
THE LITANY
getiicr in Toplady's hymn, ^'Rock of
Ages"-
Be of sin the double cure.
Cleanse me from its guilt and power;
or (less well) in a later version (by Cotter-
ill)-
Save from wrath and make me pure/®
Both of course are true asj^ects of sin
and of forgiveness. Only let us be careful
to remember and to teach that God's for-
giveness includes the loosing from the pow-
er of sins, the guilt of which He pardons ;
and that Christ was manifested to do away
with and destroy the works of the devil,
and not merely or chiefly to free us from
the consequences of our sins.'"
So w^e pray, Remember not. Lord, our
offences, nor the offences of our forefath-
ers, that is, remember them not against us ;
remember also our penitence, and so take
not vengeance on the sins that we lament
^^ I have tried to deal with this twofold aspect
of sin and of its remission in my book The For-
giveness of Sins; see especially p. 34.
=" I John iii. 5, 8.
[25]
AN EXPOSITION OF
and put away. ^'Remember not the offences
of our forefathers" is not so much a prayer
for them as for ourselves that we may
not suffer by reason of their misdoing. We
do of course (it is a matter of experience)
suffer for the wrongdoing of others with
whom in one w^ay or another we are as-
sociated in varying degTees of intimacy.
There is a solidarity of the family, of the
nation, of the race. As we may have to
endure loss of property through another's
folly or fraud, or physical suffering from
another's violence (and in other ways),
or hoart-ache from another's unkindness ;so
we may have to suffer shame on account of
the wrongdoing of others, or worse moral
harm from others' bad example and in-
fluence. In this way the sins of the fathers
are visited upon their children, and
not of one generation only.'^
Well may we beg of God to intervene
and remedy the evil, and put a stop to its
baneful consequences.
Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the
2' Ex. XX. 5.
[26]
THE LITANY
offences of our forefathers; neither take Thou
vengeance of our sins: spare us, good Lord,
spare Thy people whom Thou hast redeemed
with Thy most precious Blood, and be not an-
gry with us for ever.
Spare us, good Lord.
From all evil and mischief; from sin, from
the crafts and assaults of the devil; from Thy
wrath, and from everlasting damnation.
Good Lord, deliver us.
[27]
w
E pass from the consideration of sin
in general — its nature and its conse-
quences— to the thought of specific sins
from which we beg to be delivered, that is,
clearly from their j^ower rather than from
their guilt.
The next two groups of deprecations in
the Litany refer the first to sins of a spirit-
ual character, such as do not necessarily in-
volve any participation by the body, such
as might be committed by a disembodied
or an unembodied spirit ; and then the sec-
ond group refers more particularly to sins
in which external things have some share,
whether in the way of temptation or of
commission.
Mark you, spiritual sins come first. We
are all perhaps apt to think more lightly
of them, of pride and malice and envy,
than of grosser and more obvious sins of
sensuality or dishonesty or worldliness.
But the spiritual sins may be more danger-
[29]
AN EXPOSITION OF
ous; partly because they are more subtle
and less openly repellent, and partly be-
cause they strike more directly at the very
centre of the soul's life. There is hope for
the prodigal or for the worldling, that they
may "come to themselves," and the higher
elements of our nature, like the reason
and the will, assert their independence
against the tyranny of fashion or of bodily
indulgence. But "what" (as our Lord
asks) "if the light that is in thee be dark-
ness ?" " What if those higher and ruling
elements of our nature be themselves de-
graded and deranged i If the reason be
blinded, and the conscience dulled, and the
will perverted ? It was through pride and
disobedience, not through any deceit of the
world or the flesh, that the angels fell and
fell without hope of recovery. Well then
may we cry —
From all blindness of heart; from pride,
vain-glory, and hypocrisy ; from envy, hatred,
and malice, and all uncharitableness.
Good Lord, deliver us.
•-Matt. vi. 2:3.
[30]
THE LITAXY
You will see that this gToup bas three
clauses (divided one from another by a
semi-colon, and not merely by a comma) —
(1) Blindness of heart, self-deceit, the
more general;
(2) then sins that are various forms
of pride ;
(3) and then various forms of wrong-
ful anger.
We begin with blindness of heart, which
is at once a sin and the penalty or result
of sin/^ Sin blinds the understanding and
conscience, as well as binds the will. It
withdraws us from the illumination of the
Spirit of truth, as well as from the control
of the Spirit of holiness and purity, and
from the kindling of the Spirit of love. The
most common word in the Greek Testa-
ment that we translate ^^sin" d/xapria
means a missing of the aim ; it represents
sin as a vast mistake, a looking on things
from a wrong point of view. Sin blinds
us as to ourselves and our real condition.
Rom. i. 23; Eph. iv. 18; I Tim. iv. 2.
[31]
AN EXPOSITION OF
as to God and His claims, as to onr neigh-
bour and his rights.
Accordingly ''pride, vain-glory, and hyp-
ocrisy" follow naturally on ''blindness of
heart."
Humility, the opposite of pride, has
been described as the victory of truth in
the soul that dares to face the insigiiiti-
cance and pollution of self beneath the
purity and majesty of God.""
Pride is an inordinate love of one's own
honour and reputation, a perverted and ex-
aggerated form of self-respect.
Vain-glory is a form of pride, when we
delight in the empty applause or good opin-
ion of others who do not know or judge
us as we really are.
Hypocrisy is another form of pride,
when we play a part and try to appear
other and better than we are. All are
kinds of self-love. We are so much in love
with ourselves that we disguise faults and
exaggerate good points, and greedily snatch
-^ Sep Dr. Lidclon's sermon on "Humility and
Action" in tlie first volume of his University Ser-
mons.
[32]
THE LITANY
at praise bv which to bolster up our self-
conceit.
Then naturally this excessive love of self
leads to a distorted relation to others, who
seem in some way to rival or lessen our im-
portance, and who contradict and interfere
with our plans. Thus pride, exaggerated
self-love, leads to un-love towards others.
Envy, the first-born daughter of pride,
is a repining at others' good; a dreadful
sin whose special blackness it is that it al-
ways fastens on some excellence, whether
real or fancied.
Hatred stands for immoderate or unreg-
ulated anger, not distinguishing between a
sinner and his sin, and stirred rather by
personal annoyance at some crossing of our
own plans than by resentment at what is
in itself wrong.
Malice seeks another's hurt.
All uncharitahleness covers all conduct
that does not regard another's name or
property or feelings as we should wish our
own to be considered. The term includes
negative forms of selfish neglect of others,
too -|
AN EXPOSITION OF
as well as the positive doing them some
injury.
From all blindness of heart; from pride,
vain-glory and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred,
and malice, and all uncharitableness.
Good Lord, deliver us.
As we thus pray, we must examine our-
selves to see if there be any of these roots
of bitterness allowed to remain in our
hearts.
Try me, O God, and seek the ground of my
heart : prove me, and examine my thoughts.
Look well if there be any way of wickedness
in me : and lead me in the way everlasting."
From spiritual sins, more distinctly
^Svorks of the devil," such as he does, and
in which he would have us imitate him, the
transition is easy to other sins to which
Satan tempts us through the allurements
of the world and of the flesh, but of which
he, proud spirit, would disdain to be
guilty.
From all inordinate and sinful affections;
"Ps. exxxix. 23, 24.
[34]
THE LITANY
and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh,
and the devil.
Good Lord, deliver us.
Of both these groups of sins the common
root of all is self-love, whether (a) the
love of our higher (not our better or re-
generate) self, in independence of God,
over against a loving and loyal obedience
to Him; or (b) the love of our lower na-
ture, indulging it unduly with pleasure
and external comforts and possessions. The
inordinate and sinful affections from which
we beg to be delivered specially refer to
wrongful indulgence of the body and its
sensual desires. This is clear from the
petition in the English Prayer Book, of
which ours is a paraphrase, ^^From forni-
cation, and all other deadly sin." We
mean to ask to be delivered from a misuse
of those bodily powers which God has given
us for high and noble purposes, for the
handing on of life; from disregard of the
laws of purity, the restraints of modesty,
the rights of others in all such matters;^'
'^«I Thess. iv. 3-6.
[35]
AX EXPOSITK^X OF
from over-softness in the treatment of the
body, which tends to weaken our control
over its passions; from wrongful or ex-
cessive indulgence in food or drink; from
undue love of ease and consequent sloth-
fulness in the performance of our various
duties ; from undisciplined thoughts and
desires. All this would come under ''in-
ordinate and sinful affections/' from which
we ask to be delivered, and against which
therefore we must be watchfully on our
guard ; otherwise our prayer would be a
mockery, if we asked to be delivered from
evil, Avhile we were exposing ourselves to
temptation.
Especially are we bound to be watchful
and careful because of the deceits of the
Lcorld, the flesh and the devil. We are in
the midst of a fallen world, which is under
the influence of Satan, the liar and the
murderer, its prince,'' and we carry about
a disordered nature, easily attracted and
deluded by appearances of seeming good,
which soon prove unsatisfying and vain.
John viii. 44, xiv. 30; I John v. 19.
[36]
THE LITANY
From these deceits we are to be delivered
by the example of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who voluntarily lived in poverty and self*
restraint, and by the guidance and help of
the Holy Spirit, who is promised to lead
into all truth (of life as well as of faith)
those who submit to His warnings and in-
spirations.
The Christian Keligion distinctly en-
joins a life of discipline and restraint ; not
of self-destruction but of self-surrender,
that in losing our lower we may find our
higher life. We are not to be indifferent
to the experiences of life, its joys and sor-
rows, its worthy ambitions or its disap-
pointments ; we are to seek to pass through
them all, undeterred by pains and unhind-
ered by pleasures, letting each have its
intended effect upon us. So we must
seek to keep ourselves unspotted from the
world; as the children of God guarded by
the Son of God, that the evil one take not
hold of us, to hurt or taint or lead astray."^
One word in conclusion. From all these
-« James i. 27; I John v. 18, 19.
[37]
AN EXPOSITION OF THE LITANY
sins and evils wc pray ''Good Lord, deliver
us/' — not me; it is a common prayer, not
only of and for the immediate congTega-
tion present, but on behalf of all God's
people, and all whom He would make His
people.
Evils and temptations that we dread for
ourselves, we must do all in our power
to ward off from others. We should ask
ourselves (1) in regard to children and
others who are specially committed to our
care, are we taking thought and pains in
respect to their amusements, their reading,
their companions, and by their general
training seeking to protect them from or
guard them against the deceits of the
world, the flesh, and the devil? And (2)
in the community at large are we doing
what we can in helping to remove un-
necessary temptations and stumbliug-blocks
from the path of others' children or broth-
ers and sisters? Our Father, lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[38]
THE next group of Deprecations is
generally concerned with evils that
may come upon us /rom without, as dis-
tinct from sins which we commit. "From
lightning and tempest; from plagaie, pest-
ilence and famine; from battle and mur-
der, and from sudden death." Of old these
petitions were offered separately; they are
now arranged in triplets. Kotice the beauty
of the rhythm ; this is one of the debts
Ave owe to Archbishop Cranmer. One
might suggest the addition after the first
clause "From lightning and tempest" of
the words "From fire and flood" as perhaps
the most frequent and destructive calam-
ities to which ive are exposed.
It is not my purpose to dwell on each
petition. I am not attempting an exhaus-
tive exposition ; but rather to give hints
and suggestions. So concerning the
larger part of this group — "From
lightning and tempest; from plague,
[39]
AX EXPOSITION OF
pestilence, and famine" — I will content
myself with considering an objection
which is often made to any such pray-
ers, ''What is the good of praying against
evils of this kind ? Is it right to do so ?
Can God be expected to change the laws
in accordance with which such things oc-
cur f' A subjective value some would al-
low to prayer against sins for which we are
responsible, because they would say (and
rightly) that our will should go along with
our prayer, and in praying for deliverance
from a sin we really ask that our will may
be strengthened to resist and put away the
temptation. But is it reasonable to pray
against evils for which we are not respon-
sible? Our answer to the objection is
three-fold.
1. The very sense of our helplessness
leads us to place ourselves consciously un-
der God's protection. We claim the prom-
ises of the 91st Psalm: ''Whoso dwelleth
under the defence of the Most High shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
He shall deliver thee from the snare of
the hunter and from the noisome pestil-
[40]
THE LITANY
ence. Thou shalt not be afraid for any ter-
ror by night, nor for the sickness that des-
troyeth in the noon-day. There shall no evil
happen unto thee : neither shall any plagaie
come nigh thy dwelling."
2. We do not ask that laws of nature
(as we call them) may be altered, but that
some other force may be brought in to
counteract the operation of an existing law
which, unimpeded, would work destruc-
tion. God is free in His action, though
(as observation teaches us) He acts or-
dinarily in the same manner.
3. So we see that our cooperation is
not absent, and when Ave thus pray, we
pledge ourselves to work along with God.
For instance, if we pray to be delivered
from pestilence, we must remove unsani-
tary conditions. The discovery of causes
and of remedies (e. g. as to the carrying of
infection by insects) may be God's way
of answering our prayer. Prayer requires
us to be alert. It must never be a substi-
tute for our own effort. In prayer we
place ourselves at God's disposal, that He
[41]
AX EXPOSITION OF
may be able to work in us and iJirough us,
to accomplish His purposes.
About each of the remaining evils in
this group, from which we ask to be de-
livered, ''battle and murder and sudden
death," I would give a word of explana-
tion.
(a) Beside all its attendant and con-
sequent horrors and misery. War is a sad
waste of life; of money, e. g. in battleships
which cost a fabulous sum to build and
then in a very short time are superseded
and good for nothing; and of energy
withdrawing men( and in their best years)
from productive labour; moreover the
military system is ruinous to morals in
herding men together in unnatural con-
ditions, away from the safeguards and res-
ponsibilities of family life. Resort to
physical violence and force should be the
last resort, when reason and argument have
failed. It may be necessary then, just as
the policeman and magistrate and jail are
necessary in municipal life, for persons
who will not be persuaded to live quietly
and peaceably. So as we pray to be de-
[42]
THE LITANY
livered ^'from battle," we must do all in
our power to promote human and reason-
able methods of settling disputes among
persons or classes or nations. In Daniel's
vision'' the ''four great beasts" represent
kingdoms founded on brute force ; these
give way before the kingdom of intelli-
gence and conscience represented by a hu-
man figure, a form like unto a son of man. -'
(b) On the prayer for deliverance
from "murder" two remarks ought to be
made, though they refer to it as a sin in
the commission of which we may have
some share, rather than as a calamity
which we may suffer.
(1) The destruction of human life in
whatever initial stage, to avoid pain or
shame, is wrong. We must be ready to
accept the consequences of our actions.
There may be exceptional and extreme cas-
es, where the sacrifice of the child is nec-
essary to save the life of the mother — for
the husband's sake and that of other chil-
-'Dan. vii.
* See Note at end on International Peace.
[43]
AN EXPOSITION OF
dreu (it would not be at her own choice) ;
just as it may become necessary to take
life in war, or in capital punishment for
the good of the community, not in ven-
geance but as frowning down evil, and
expressing the community's reprobation of
a crime.
(2) Self-destruction is wicked and
cowardly. It is a tremendous responsibil-
ity to shorten the time of our probation,
to throw away the opportunity, it may be,
of working out repentance for wrong-do-
ing. Do not dally with suggestions of this
kind, nor allow the mind — your own or
another's — to become familiarized with the
thought. Spread healthy, wholesome
teaching and influence about such sub-
jects. We should cultivate a sense of the
sacredness of life. ^'From battle and mur-
der, good Lord, deliver us."
(c) And ''from sudden death." As
Hooker puts it, our prayer against this
importeth a two-fold desire: first, that
death when it cometh may give us some
convenient respite for religion's sake and
our more immediate preparation for the
[44]
THE LITANY
change; or secondly, if that be denied us
of God, that though death be unexpected
and sudden in itself, nevertheless in regard
of our prepared minds it may not be sud-
den to us.'"
Bishop Andrewes teaches us to pray:
We beseech of Thee
for the close of our life,
that Thou wouldest direct it in peace,
Christian, acceptable,
sinless, shameless,
and, if it please Thee, painless;
gathering us together
under the feet of Thine elect,
when Thou wilt, and as Thou wilt,
only without shame and sins/'
We pass to another group of Depreca-
tions (the last) in which we pray against
what we may call corporate or social evils,
rebellion and disorder (whether open or
secret) in the sphere of corporate life,
whether national or ecclesiastical. ^'From
all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebel-
'" Ecclesiastical Polity, book v., ch. xlvi.
^^ Devotions, Order for Evening Prayer.
[45]
AN EXPOSITION OF
lion,'- and ^'from all false doctrine, heresy,
and schism," that is, from self-willed dis-
regard of authority in the region of
thought or practice, from causing needless
division in the Christian body. This is
traced to its source. Eebellion against
God, the source of all authority in Church
or State, in family or school, is at the
bottom of these disorders. Therefore we
go on to pray ''from hardness of heart, and
contempt of Thy Word and Command-
ment"— however given to us — ''Good Lord,
deliver us."
We cannot go into a discussion of all
possible cases, nor of the circumstances
which may render unavoidable or justi-
fiable resistance to authority when it is
overstrained or unlawfully exercised.
Here we are concerned with the general
principle, that the common good of all re-
quires the subordination of individual or
class interests and preferences to the wel-
fare of the whole body. To join in this
prayer for deliverance from heresy and
schism, and then to take part in the wor-
ship, or support the organization, of those
[46]
THE LITANY
who (whatever allowance may be made for
inherited association and prejudice) are
separated from the communion of the his-
toric Church, would seem altogether in-
consistent. Let us earnestly pray for the
healing of divisions and the explanation of
misunderstandings; but garments are not
mended by rents being ignored. In con-
nexion with this principle we must always
remember that there is a mutual duty, a
reciprocal obligation, between parents and
children, between rulers and subjects in
every sphere. Parents and others must
rule ^^in the Lord" as representing Him,
not enforcing their own arbitrary whims,
if they are to be obeyed for His sake.
Fathers, says the Apostle, provoke not your
children, that they be not discouraged."
Amid much that causes anxiety and a
good deal that is provoking in the civil
and in the ecclesiastical sphere, let us cul-
tivate a temper of conciliation, a spirit of
subordination, a sense of mutual respons-
ibility. And let us be quite sure that no
"Eph. vi. 4; Col. iii. 21.
[47]
AN EXP(3SITI0X OF THE LITANY
good cud is ever served by a spirit of law-
lessness or by disregard of authority. In
Daute's great poem Church and State, the
spiritual aud the temporal euipire, are both
regarded as God's institution for the guid-
ance of mankind; to rebel against either
is to rebel against God. The salvation of
the world and the happiness of mankind,
depend on the full and righteous exercise
of the powers of each within its sphere. Ac-
cordingly Brutus and Cassius who slew
Julius Caesar, the embodiment of the em-
pire, are placed by Dante in the same depth
of Hell with Judas Iscariot, who betrayed
Jesus Christ, the Founder of the Church."*''
Inferno, xxxiv. 55-67.
[48]
THE petitions in the Litany that be-
gin with ^'By" — ''By the mystery of
Thy holy incarnation," ''By Thy cross and
passion," and so on — are called Obsecra-
tions. We plead by what onr Lord has
done and suffered for us that He will hear
us, spare us, deliver us. They are ad-
dressed, as is the greater part of the
Litany, to our Lord Jesus Christ, the in-
carnate Son of God, now exalted in our
human nature to God's right hand, which
means to the highest place at once of hon-
our and of power. Such petitions involve
of course a belief in His Godhead. It is
because He is God that we pray to Him,
and that we can plead the events of His
earthly life as having such transcendent
significance and virtue. It is because He
is the Son of God made man that we are
sure of His fellow feeling with us in our
infirmities. Our prayers take for granted
[49]
AN EXPOSITION OF
our creed. The rule of prayer is the
rule of faith.
There are four distinct senses, not ex-
clusive one of another, in which we may
understand and offer these petitions, and
others like thein.
1. We plead all that our Lord has done
and suffered on our behalf as a ground for
His compassion and attention to our
prayer. It is equivalent to the Scriptural
plea ''By Thy mercy" thus expressed and
manifested, or 'Tor Thy j^ame's sake."
licject not those whom Thou hast pur-
chased at such a price ; pity those to whom
Thou hast shown such favour. Let it not
be in vain that Thou hast come down from
heaven and entered into our created life,
and then hast further humbled Thyself as
man, even to the death of the cross. So
the great hymn Dies irae (which we have
already quoted) pleads:
Think, kind Jesii, my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation ;
Leave me not to reprobation.
Faint and weary Thou hast sought me,
On the cross of suffering bought me :
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?
[50]
THE LITANY
Then, on the other hand, we can hardly
say the prayer without hearing an appeal
to ourselves. Let it not be in vain that
the Lord Jesus Christ has done and suf-
fered all this. Let Him see of the travail
of His soul and be satisfied. In particu-
lar since the Son of God has hallowed our
nature in its every part, by Himself as-
suming it and making it the instrument
for the manifestation of His divine life
and character, let us do all in our power
to save that human nature, in ourselves and
in others, from everything that is degrad-
ing or unworthy.
2. This is the first meaning to give to
our petitions, "By" : Let it not be in vain.
Then, secondly, we pray to our Lord by
the remembrance of His earthly exper-
iences to consider and help us when we are
in like conditions or circumstances. He
still wears our human nature. That is the
meaning of the Ascension. As man He
was exalted to the glory which ever be-
longed to His divine nature and person."
^* John xvii. 5.
[51]
AX EXPOSITION OF
St. Stephen and St. John beheld Him as
the Soil of man in the glory of God.'''
And He still bears the traces of His
earthly life. He is seen as the Lamb as
it had been slain. As His sacred hands
and feet and side retain the marks of the
nails and spear, so He treasures in His
mind and heart the remembrance of Beth-
lehem and Xazareth and Bethany, of
Gethsemane and Gabbatha and Golgotha,
Gethsemane with its spiritual wrestling,
Gabbatha with its contradiction and false
accusation, Golgotha with its cruel and
shameful death.
On His side our calling Him to mind
may be needless; for us it is a strength-
ening of our assurance concerning His
sympathy. ^'In that He Himself hath
suffered being tempted, He is able also to
succour them that are tempted." "" Two
well known hymns, among many others,
shew the hold that this thought has gained
on the minds and hearts of Christian peo-
^^Acts vii. 55, 5G; Rev, i. 13, 17, v. C.
="^Heb. ii. 18.
[52]
THE LITANY
pie. In Sir Eobert Grant's Litany hymn
''Savionr, Avhen in dust to Thee," (so called
let me remind you, not because it was
intended to be sung before the Prayer
Book Litany, but because it is itself a
Litany,) we say —
By Thy helpless infant years.
By Thy life of want and tears.
By Thy days of sore distress
In the savage wilderness,
By the dread permitted hour
Of the mighty tempter's power,
Turn, Oh turn a favouring eye.
Hear our solemn Litany.
Dean Milman in his ^'When our heads
are bowed with woe" teaches us to pray —
Thou our throbbing flesh hast worn.
Thou our mortal griefs hast borne.
Thou hast shed the human tear;
Jesu, Son of Mary, hear.
Thou hast bowed the dying head.
Thou the blood of life hast shed.
Thou hast filled a mortal bier;
Jesu, Son of Mary, hear.
Thou the shame, the grief, hast known.
Though the sins were not Thine own;
Thou hast deigned their load to bear;
Jesu, Son of Mary, hear.
[53]
AN EXPOSITION OF
I have only quoted alternate stanzas
of the hymn. I cannot think why we do
not more often have it sung at funerals as
a prayer in which we associate ourselves
Avith the departed as w^ell as with the
mourners. I would so very much prefer
it for my own burial to a jubilant song
about the joys of heaven. One feels it
would be so much more real and in har-
mony with the soul's attitude of deepened
penitence and self-abasement in the nearer
or realized presence of God.
So we may pray, Help and comfort and
deliver us in trouble by the remembrance
of the pang of separation from Thy Mother,
By the worse pain of desertion by Thy
disciples, By Thy suffering under the mis-
representation of foes, and the misunder-
standing of friends, By Thy bearing the
apparent failure of Thy work. By Thy
wrestling with the evil one, and the hid-
ing of Thy Father's face. And as we call
to remembrance His sorrows, so we may
also plead His pure human joys and in-
terests ; By Thy love for Thy Mother, and
[54]
THE LITANY
Thy friends, hear our prayers for all who
are near and dear to us.
3. Then, thirdly, there is a moral sense
in which we offer these prayers; asking
that we may have grace to follow our
Lord's example shewn in these several
events or mysteries, — the poverty of His
Nativity, the humility shewn in His sub-
mission to Circumcision and to Baptism,
His obedience in the Temptation, His
gentleness and courage in the Passion. The
moral virtues thus exhibited we pray that
we may imitate. Suffer us not to be alto-
gether untrue to this pattern. What a
shame to be a soft and luxurious member
of a Head that was crowned with thorns !
If any have not the Spirit of Christ — the
Spirit that shewed itself in meekness and
obedience, in endurance and prayerfulness
— he is none of His."
4. Fourth, in a deeper and more spirit-
ual sense we pray that we may share the
vii'tue of each mystery. Each has its in-
" Rom. viii. 9.
[55]
AN EXPOSITION OF
tended and proper effect on our lives ; each
should have its counterpart in our spirit-
ual experience. This is brought before us,
or expressed, in many of the collects for
holy-days, for instance, for Christmas,
Easter Even and Easter Day, the Ascen-
sion. Christ was born for us, that we
might be re-born in Him. For us He died,
that with Him we might die to sin and
self. For us He rose, that in Him we too
may rise to newness of life. Christ, re-
member always, is our Leader and our
Representative, rather than our substitute.
He did not suffer that we might live easy,
self-indulgent lives, but that we might arm
ourselves with the same mind. He was
not tempted that we might escape tempta-
tion, but that we might be able to with-
stand temptation. He did not die that we
might be enabled to avoid death, but to
hallow the grave, that for us too it may be
a gate of life. In all that He did and
suffered we must (in our measure) have
our share, if we would profit by His work.
If the Captain of our salvation was made
perfect through sufferings, that was be-
[56] .
THE LITANY
cause this is the way iu which all God's
children are to be brought to glory/*
We must not fail to give prominence
to the one mystery among those enumer-
ated which does not strictly belong to our
Lord's incarnate life, though it is closely
connected with it, ^'By the coming of the
Holy Ghost, good Lord, deliver us." By
the gift of the indwelling Spirit, whom
Thou didst promise to send on Thy dis-
ciples when Thou didst go to the Father, to
be their abiding Guide and Helper; By
His indwelling presence in Thy Church
and in individual disciples. Deliver us
from earthliness, from worldly judgments,
from cowardice or selfishness, from all that
is contrary to His character of Truth and
Purit}' and Love. In this way we should
plead the mysteries of our faith, and as the
seasons come round at which we specially
commemorate them one by one, we should
take care that the commemoration of the
past historical event brings with it the
2^Heb. ii. 10.
[57]
AN EXI'OSITION OF
appropriate grace for our spiritual up-
building.
Closely following on the Obsecrations
appropriately come the prayers for deliv-
erance in the varied experiences of our
life. "'In all time of our tribulation; in
all time of our prosperity (more dangerous,
perhaps) ; in the hour of death, and in the
day of judgment, Good Lord, deliver us."
It is the same good Lord, our Emmanuel
now as when on earth, who has passed
through all the vicissitudes of human life,
its joys and its sorrows, who at the last
commended His departing soul into His
Father's hands, whom we entreat to protect
and su])port and steady us in all the vicissi-
tudes of our life, that we be not over-
whelmed by adversity, nor swept away by
prosperity, that in the hour of our de-
parture He would receive us, and in the
last and dreadful day of final account,
spare and pity us.
[58]
THE LITANY
Righteous Judge! for sin's pollution
Grant Thy gift of absolution
Ere that clay of retribution.
With Thy favoured sheep Oh, place me,
Nor among the goats abase me,
But to Thy right hand upraise me.
[ 59 ]
AFTER the Invocations, calling on
each Person of the Trinity, the
Deprecations, praying to be delivered from
varions forms of evil, and the Obsecra-
tions, in which we plead the mysteries of
our Lord's life, come the Supplications of
the Litany, or petitions for various bless-
ings for ourselves and others. These we
may mostly group under three great di-
visions :
(1) The first six are supplications
for God's people at large, under religious
or civil organizations, with their represen-
tatives and rulers;
(2) The next four are supplications
for various classes of persons according to
their spiritual needs ;
(3) Then come four more for various
classes according to their temporal neces-
sities. On these there follow at the end
three more detached petitions.
The Litany follows the apostle's bid-
[Gl]
AN EXPOSITION OF
cling to Timothy, as chief pastor of the
Church at Ephosus : ^'I exhort, first of all,
that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
thanksgivings be made for all men; for
kings and all that are in high place; that
we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all
C'odliness and s'ravitv." '"*
In the first of the groups I have ar-
ranged we are taught to pray especially
for the Church, for rulers, for the clergy,
for all nations.
(a) For the Church, that she may
faithfully and boldly bear her witness to
the revelation she has received for faith
and life (both, remember, are included in
the religion of Jesus Christ), and at the
same time may adapt herself to different
ages and peoples, speaking in the tongue
and thought of each. This is to be done
through us, her members, in whatever posi-
tion of prominence or obscurity we may
be. The Church on earth has no existence
apart from the men and women, the boys
and girls, who make it up. The Church
^«I Tim. ii. 1, 2.
[62]
THE LITANY
has its ideal life to which we must seek
to rise, its mission which we must carry
out, its offices which we must be prepared
to fill.
Thus we pray, "That it may please Thee
to rule and govern Thy holy Church uni-
versal in the right way; We beseech Thee
to hear us, good Lord." Our prayers
stretch beyond our own congregation or
parish or diocese or communion, to em-
brace the whole of Christ's Church, the
blessed company of all faithful people, in
whatever land, or among people of what-
ever stage of civilization, amid whatever
circumstances. So with Bishop Andrewes
we pray
For the Church Catholic, its confirmation and
increase :
Eastern, its deliverance and union:
Western, its readjustment and pacification:
British, the restoration of the things that are
wanting therein, the strengthening of the
things that remain.*"
We pray that the Lord, the Head of the
Body, will by His Spirit guide and govern
*" Daily Prayers, for Monday. Brightman's edi-
tion, p. GO — comp. p. 32.
[63]
AN EXPOSITION OF
it ill the right way, to fulfil its mission, to
bear its witness, to train its members, to
lead all to and in ^'the way" (which was
a name for the Christian religion in apos-
tolic days"), the Way that leadeth to ever-
lasting life, the Way of holiness — of truth
and purity and peace. Without enquiry
here as to the exact limits of the Church,
on the side either of orthodox doctrine or
of apostolic order, we pray for all who
profess and call themselves Christians that
they may be led into the way of truth, and
hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the
bond of peace, and in righteousness of
life. May the Church be continually in-
creased by the gathering in of new chil-
dren, and perfected by the increasing de-
votion of those who have been regenerated,
(b) After the petition for the welfare
of the w^hole Church, in accordance with
the apostle's precept, w^e pray first of all
for those who are set in positions of civil
authority, ^'That it may please Thee to
bless and preserve all Christian Tiulers and
Acts ix. 2, xix. 9, 23, xxiv. 4, 14, 22.
[04]
THE LITANY
Magistrates, giving them grace to execute
justice, and to maintain truth."
The offering of such a petition earnest-
ly and habitually ought to check rash criti-
cism and carping. In general a people
gets the rulers it deserves. In a represen-
tative government like ours we are respon-
sible for those whom we elect to office and
entrust with the authority of governance
in city, state or nation. If we recognized
more clearly our responsibility, our words
of prayer might be more earnest, our criti-
cism less harsh, more humble. Let us
learn to work along with those in author-
it}^ — in positions oftentimes of great dif-
ficulty as well as of splendid opportunity.
It is our right to advise and check them in
all legitimate w^ays, and our duty to up-
hold them with our prayers.
(c) ^'That it may please Thee to illu-
minate all Bishops, Priests and Deacons,
with true knowledge and imderstanding
of Thy Word; and that both by their
preaching and living they may set it forth
and show it accordingly." Here again
our interests are to be wide. It is not
[65]
AN EXPOSITION OF
only our o^vn immediate pastors, parochial
or diocesan, for whom we pray, but for
all the Ministers of God's Word and Sacra-
ments, in their several orders and offices;
and our regard is to be prayerful, calling
forth for them gifts of sanctifying and
enabling grace. The clergy are made out
of laymen. They ought to be as St. Paul
says,*' pattern-believers in word and be-
haviour (the external expressions of the
Christian life), in faith and love (its rul-
ing motives), in purity (its consecrating
grace). But they start as men of like na-
ture and infirmities with others. ^'Men,
not Angels, the Priests of the Gospel" is
the striking title of a sermon of Dr. New-
man's. As leaders they have a claim on
our sympathy and prayers as well as on
our allegiance. Leaders in any sphere, in
army or navy, in Church or state, can do
little without loyal followers.
Ministers are made out of laymen. Lay
people should offer themselves, or encour-
age their children and others to offer them-
« I Tim. iv. 12.
[ Gfi ]
THE LITANY
selves, for the replenishing of the ranks
of the Ministry. The petition must not
be an idle pra^'er, "That it may please
Thee to send forth labourers into Thy
harvest." We must encourage vocations,
and do onr part to help likely men prepare
for Holy Orders. Let us cherish and
spread a true and high conception of the
Christian Ministry. Eemember this defi-
nition: It is the dedication of life with
all its powers to the service of our fellows
in their highest interests." We will pray
then for the clergy —
for the multiplication of vocations to the
ministry,
for the training of head and heart,
for sanctification of life,
for loyalty to Christ, His truth. His Church,
for knowledge and judgment,
for leadership,
for zeal for souls,
for devotion in prayer and sacraments,
for patience and perseverance.
«See a Sermon by Dean Church on "The Pur-
pose of the Christian Ministry" in his volume
Human life and its conditions.
[67]
AN EXPOSITION OF
In a word, that they may rightly divide
the word of truth, and may walk uprightly.
(d) The petitions for the Ministry are
followed immediately by the prayer ^'That
it may please Thee to bless and keep all
Thy people.'' We are thankful largely to
have got rid of the expression about a
man's "entering the Church" when he was
admitted to Holy Orders. But I am afraid
we have by no means got free from the
thought which underlies the expression.
We need to realize that lay people are
just as truly a part of the Church as the
clergy; that their services in their several
lines of duty are just as acceptable to God
as is the Avork of a priest. The physician
and the nurse, the lawyer and the states-
man, the soldier and the sailor and the
policeman, the teacher and the writer, the
merchant and the clerk, the artist and the
artisan, the farmer and the fisherman, the
mother of a family and the domestic serv-
ant, should be each in his or her vocation
and ministry as truly serving God and His
Church as the priest in his particular of-
fice. All are included in the petition,
[68]
THE LITANY
''That it may please Thee to bless and keep
all Thy people."
(e) From all estates of men in the
Church our prayer passes to ''all nations,"
''That it may please Thee to give to all
nations unity, peace and true concord."
As with persons and with classes, so with
nations, we must learn that cooperation and
not competition, friendliness and not antag-
onism, is the true law, according to God's
design, which in the Christian Church we
must seek to realize. God has made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on
the face of the whole earth. He has dis-
tributed to different races different gifts —
of resources and ability and temperament.
Each is to become its best, that it may
make its special contribution to the com-
mon treasury. Think of some character-
istics of different peoples, and how the hu-
man race, newborn in the Christian
Church, ought to be enriched by the gifts
of each. The absence of any would be a
loss to all. As the title on the Cross was
written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin,
telling of the City of God being built at
[69]
AN EXPOSITION OF THE LITANY
the confluence of the three streams of He-
brew religious inspiration, of Greek liter-
ature and philosophy, and of Roman or-
ganization, so in later ages the grace and
devotion of the Latin peoples of southern
Europe, and the intellectual and moral
sturdiness of the Teuton have been brought
into the kingdom ; and in our own day we
are to claim for Christ the persistent pa-
tience of China, the delicacy of Japan, the
subtlety of the Hindu, and the affectionate-
ness of the Negi'o. Each people needs
Christ, and the Christian Church needs
each people, and we all need one another.'^*
* Sec Note at the end on International Peace.
[70]
AFTEK the Supplications for Christ's
people at large there follow four
groups of Supplications for various classes
of persons according to their spiritual
needs. For all of them we pray to the
"good Lord" who in the days of His earthly
ministr}^ invited Himself to be a giiest
of Zacchaeus the publican, promised Para-
dise to the penitent robber on the cross,
gave the word of absolution to the peni-
tent woman whose sins, though many, were
forgiven because she loved much, and had
compassion on the woman taken in adul-
tery, who restored Peter on his penitence to
the position he had forfeited by his de-
nial of his Master ; who, on the other hand,
insisted on bringing home her misdoings
to the woman of Samaria, who required
Nicodemus to be born again if he would
see the things of God, who rebuked the un-
disciplined zeal of His disciples James and
AN EXPOSITION OF
Johu, and bade others count the cost in-
volved in His service, who rebuked the hyp-
ocrites and self-righteous, and declared He
came not to call the righteous but sinners
to repentance." So He dealt with all
gently and firmly, adapting His treatment,
like a wise physician, to the varying needs
of those who came before Him. We will
take these petitions separately.
(a) "That it may please Thee to give
us an heart to love and fear Thee, and dili-
gently to live after Thy commandments."
The needle of fear, it has been said,
must pierce the heart before the thread
of love can bind it to God. Love, when
it is perfected, casts out fear, because the
work of fear has then been done ;*' but few
of us have arrived at that stage of ma-
ture and ]:>erfect love, which puts us be-
yond the need of fearing God, His holi-
ness and His judgments.
**Liike xix. 1-10, xxiii. 42, 43, vii. 47-50; John
viii. 10, 11, xxi. 15-17, iv. 16-18, iii. 3; Luke ix.
54, 55, xiv. 25, etc.; Matt, xxiii; Luke v. 31, 32.
*'" I John iv. 18.
[72]
THE LITANY
How wonderful, how beautiful.
The sight of Thee must be.
Thine endless wisdom, boundless power,
And awful purity!
Oh, how I fear Thee, living God,
With deepest, tenderest fears.
And worship Thee with trembling hope.
And penitential tears !
And while the fear that hath torment,
the purifying fear, may be by degrees out-
grown, cast out by maturing love that
unites the soul with God, so that we love
and desire what He loves, and hate and
shrink from all that is abhorrent to Him ;
the fear of reverent awe will still increase
along with advancing knowledge and
love.*^ ^'Our Father, hallowed be Thy
^N'ame" is the children's prayer. We must
never think that intimacy is shewn by rude
familiarity. The sense of God's greatness
will add seriousness to all our approaches
to Him, and induce a reverence of thought
and speech (a careful handling is the mean-
ing of the Greek word) in all our dealing
with sacred things, in prayer and sacra-
Heb. xii. 28; Ps. Ixxxix. 8.
[73]
AX EXPOSITION OF
ment, in scripture and creed. Love and
fear will together quicken our obedience.
In varied forms this is again and again ex-
pressed in the 119th Psalm:
Oh how I love thy law.
It is my meditation all the day.
My flesh trembleth for fear of thee:
And I am afraid of thy judgments."
The diligent, watchful, prompt keeping
of God's commandments is the test of a
true love, shewn in self-surrender, not in
sentiment or emotion, and of a holy fear
which does not discourage or repel, but
serves as a spur to greater earnestness in
God's service.*^
(b) The next set of petitions may be
regarded as a devotional summary of the
Parable of the Sower. For all Christ's
people we ask a continually increasing
measure of His grace — His favourable
help, that is — the interior assistance of His
Holy Spirit, Avith a view to the right and
profitable reception of His Word, in what-
^'vv. 97, 120.
*^John xiv. 15, 21, xv. 10; Prov. i. 7; Dent. x.
12, 13.
THE LITANY
ever way it is presented to us. This may
be through the reading of Scripture, by
the authoritative preaching of His minis-
ters, in private exhortations and the ex-
ample of friends, in warnings of con-
science.
We must not rely on past gifts of grace,
however surely attested by Sacraments or
experience. That grace did its \vork, or
enabled us to accomplish what God was
then calling us to. But His calls are
progressive; His Word is ever active, and
leading us on to further revelations of His
mind and will.*^ And to correspond with
His continually renewed demands or invi-
tations we need the continual assistance of
His grace — daily bread for daily needs.
Our correspondence is spoken of under
three heads :
To hear meekly — listening in a docile
not a critical spirit; to receive with pure
affection — giving a loving not a grudging
welcome; to bring forth the fruits of the
Spirit — cherishing the word, that what has
"Heb. iv. 12.
[75]
AN EXPOSITION OF
been heard with the outward ear may be
grafted inwardly in the heart, taking pos-
session of us, to mould our thoughts and
stir our wills, that our lives may be trans-
formed thereby."*
St. Paul gives a nine-fold enumeration
of the fruits of the Spirit, the intended ef-
fect of all the means of grace, the proper
result of the Spirit of God acting upon the
spirit of man. The fruit of the Spirit, he
says, is love, joy, peace — these mark the
soul's true attitude towards God; long-
suffering, gentleness, goodness (that is ac-
tive beneficence) towards our neighbors;
faithfulness (absolute trustworthiness),
meekness, and self-control in oneself.'"'
We may speak of them as fruits or fruit,
in the plural or in the singular. They
are allied virtues, springing from one
source, the manifestation of one trans-
figured character, called forth in their var-
ied beauty by various opportunities.
That the Word of God may have this
'^^ James i. 21.
»' Gal, V. 22, 23.
[ 70 ]
THE LITANY
effect on us we must put ourselves for its
reception in the attitude of Samuel, say-
ing Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth ;
of St. Paul, Lord, what wouldest Thou
have me to do'^ of the Blessed Virgin
Mary in response to the message of the
angel, Behold the handmaid of the Lord;
be it unto me according to Thy word."'
What better prayer for a Sunday morn-
ing (whether the Litany be said or not)
than this, with reference to all the minis-
trations of the Church, ^'That it may
please Thee to give to all Thy people in-
crease of grace to hear meekly Thy Word,
and to receive it with pure affection, and
to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit" ?
(c) Under the next petition two mis-
takes must be noticed into which we are
apt to fall. (1) There is a common no-
tion that whatever opinion a man holds,
whatever course of action he follows, is
right for him at any rate, if only he adopts
it conscientiously, in good faith. This is
agTiosticism full-blown, applied to conduct
"I Sam. iii. 9; Acts xxii. 10; Luke i. 38.
AN EXPOSITION OF
as well as to faith. On the contrary we
believe that there is an objective Right
and Truth, whether we recognize it or not.
And accordingly we pray for all such as
have erred (more consciously) or are (less
wilfully) deceived, that they may be
brought into the way of Truth.
One might just as well contend that
every one should keep his watch or clock
at whatever time he pleased, that this
would be the time of day for him. It
would be an exceedingly inconvenient ar-
rangement, one clock, for instance, shewing
a quarter before nine, and another twenty-
five minutes past four. Arrangements
and appointments (railroad and other)
would of course be impossible. All the
confusion would proceed from ignoring
the fact that, however imperfectly our
clocks may register it, there is an objectiv^e
standard of time, in the rising and setting
of the sun, from which we derive our.
standard time for different localities, and
to this we set our clocks and watches. So
there is for faith and life the revelation
of God's mind and will — given in con-
[78]
THE LITANY
science, through great teachers whom He
has raised up, cuhninating in our Lord
Jesus Christ, His incarnate Son, recorded
in Scripture, accepted and witnessed to by
His Church. By this standard or rule
our individual opinions and judgments
are to be corrected.
(2) There is a mistake of a somewhat
different, almost an opposite, kind.
We are apt to regard those whom we
sincerely believe to be in error, with a
spirit of hostility or of contempt. Our
attitude should rather be that of pity
(which is akin to love), thinking of the
loss they suffer for comfort and inspira-
tion from their unbelief or misbelief.
Every truth denied or obscured leaves peo-
ple poorer and weaker in the face of the
temptations, the sorrows, the perplexities
of life. We should remember too how
largely we, the Christian Church at any
rate, may be responsible for the errors into
which people fall, by our unloving or illogi-
cal presentation of the truth, or by our be-
haviour so inconsistent with what we pro-
fess, by which they have been not unnatur-
[79]
AN EXPOSITION OF
allj repelled. Humbly therefore and
lovingly we will pray, ''That it may please
Thee to bring into the way of truth all
such as have erred and are deceived."
Here may be noticed the solemn inter-
cession on behalf of those who are apart
from the Christian Church which has been
for many centuries, from very early times,
a feature of the Good Friday service. This
is perpetuated, however briefly, in our
third collect of the day, in which we pray
for mercy on all Jews, Turks, infidels and
heretics, begging God to take from them all
ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt
of His Word, and to fetch them home to
His flock. Why objection should be felt
on the part of the Jews to this intercession
is to me a simple puzzle. Our prayer for
them is surely an expression of charity,
not of hatred or contem]^t. If we believe
that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they (in
igTiorance, as St. Peter says) rejected and
crucified, is the true Messiah and God's
incarnate Son, we must pray that they may
be brought to an acknowledgment of the
truth. That we should place them first
[80]
THE LITANY
among false believers implies no insult.
We pray for those who reject our Lord ; for
those who follow a later prophet ; for those
who are without the Christian faith (that
is the meaning of "infidels," and applies
to Buddhists or Hindus or Confucian-
ists) ; and for heretics, who have violated
the fundamental faith of the Church and
broken away from its communion. To
sacrifice this detailed, though compressed,
intercession for unbelievers and misbeliev-
ers (following the intercession for the
Christian family, and for all orders and es-
tates of men therein) on the day of the
Lord's death that He might gather into one
the children of God that are scattered
abroad, from a feeling of spurious delicacy,
would seem to me a profound mistake. Let
us rather avoid any flippant repetition of
the enumeration in the collect (which
might well give offence), and any light
regard of the rejection of God's revelation,
(d) In the next group of petitions, for
perseverance to the faithful, stability to
the w^avering, recovery for the fallen, final
victory for all strugglers, we may again
[81]
AN EXPOSITION OF
remind ourselves to whom we make our
supplications, even to the good Lord, who
would not break the bruised reed, or
quench the smoking flax,"' to Him who en-
gaged in deadly struggle with the evil one
and Himself experienced the fierceness of
his attacks. The seed of the woman, at the
expense of his own heel being bruised in
the encounter, has crushed the serpent's
head, and, following our Leader, we can
trample the evil one under our feet/* From
God's persevering, forbearing care for us,
upholding us when we stand, raising us
when we fall, recalling us when we wander,
and receiving us when we return, what a
lesson should we learn, not only of hope-
fulness, but of like patient dealing with
others, not easily throwing them over or
letting them go, however discouraging or
wayward any may seem ! Again and
again the assurance that someone cared
(a reflexion of the heavenly Friend) has
''' Matt. xii. 20.
"Gen. iii. 15; John xiv. 30, xvi. 33.
[82]
THE LITANY
been the means of restoring self-respect
when this was nearly lost.
Following His example who came to
seek and to save that which was lost, this
is the characteristic of the Christian
Church, in a special way through its of-
ficial ministry, but by no means only so.
If the Church is to bear her witness against
all wrong and wickedness — with righteous-
ness to defend the poor and decide with
equity for the meek of the earth, she is
(perhaps still more) to be forward to bind
up the brokenhearted, to strengthen the
weak hands and confirm the feeble knees.''^
She is to remit as well as to retain sins
in the Lord's name. This is the meaning
of her ministry of reconciliation, relieving
burdened consciences and putting forth
spiritual power to free men and women
from the bondage of evil habits.^*
Listen to the charge addressed to a
Bishop at the moment of his consecration,
which tells not of his exclusive preroga-
Isa. xi. 4, XXXV. 3, 4; Heb. xii. 12.
John XX. 23; I Cor. v. 3-5; II Cor. i. 10.
[83]
AN EXPOSITION OF
tive, but of duties which preeminently be-
long to him as the head and representative
of Christians within a certain district, as
the chief pastor of a diocese. '^Hold up
the weak, heal the sick ; bind up the
broken, bring again the outcasts, seek the
lost. Be so merciful that you be not too
remiss ; so minister discipline that you for-
get not mercy."
That it may please Thee to streiig-theii such
as do stand ; and to comfort and help the weak-
hearted; and to raise np those who fall; and
finally to beat down Satan under our feet;
We beseech Tliee to hear us, good Lord.
After suffrages for various classes of
persons according to their spiritual needs,
follow several for various classes according
to their temporal necessities. Here too we
may remind ourselves of the story of our
Lord's earthly ministry preserved to us in
the Gospels, how He went about doing
good, and healing all that were sick of
divers diseases; He was moved with com-
passion for the hungry crowd, and for be-
[84]
THE LITANY
reaved friends ; He calmed the fears of the
disciples in the tempest." It is to Him we
pray ^^to succour, help, and comfort, all that
are in danger, necessity, and tribulation."
One of the early liturgies (or services
for the celebration of the Holy Commun-
ion) that are preserved to us, after de-
tailed intercessions for all sorts and con-
ditions of men, prays —
Sail with the voyagers,
travel with the way-farers,
champion widows, shield orphans,
deliver captives,
heal the sick.
For Thou, O Lord, art the succour of the suc-
courless,
and the hope of them that are past hope,
the saviour of the tempest-tossed,
the harbour of the voyagers,
the physician of the sick :
Thyself become all things to all men,
which knowest each one and his petition, each
house and its need.^^
"Acts X. 38; Matt. iv. 23; Mark viii. 2; Luke
vii. 13; Mark iv. 37-40.
^* Liturgy of St. Basil. See Translations of the
Primitive Liturgies, by Neale & Littledale, pp.
139, 140. Incorporated by Bishop Andrewes in his
Devotions for Wednesday morning.
[85]
AN EXPOSITION OF
(a) In these petitions Ave are dwelling
on evil under the aspect of misfortune.
^'ThsLt the world is full of this, the most
casual observer must confess; how full it
is they only who from circumstances have
been let to penetrate the crust of the
world's civilization can attest. Under the
present civilization of the world and the
false surface of the things we see, what a
depth of wretchedness exists! ITunger
and thirst, disease and povert}", shame
and slavery, mental anguish and blighted
prospects, disappointed ambition and un-
requited love, corrupted infancy and
neglected old age, are some of the inmates
of the Avards of the great lazar-house
of life." "
(b) Then we go on to more specific
instances of danger and need. ''That it
may please Thee to preserve all who travel
by land or by Avater, all Avomen in the
perils of child-birth, all sick persons, and
young children; and to shoAV Thy pity
^« Bishop A. p. Forbes of Brechin, Commentary
on the Litany, p. 147.
[86]
THE LITANY
upon all prisoners and captives." If jour-
neys are largely, by no means wholly, freed
from the peculiar dangers which attended
them in earlier times (pirates have mostly
disappeared from the seas, but ^hold-ups'
are not uncommon on Western railroads),
modern travel by land and by water has
its own dangers, by reason of the size and
weight of its conveyances, and the speed
with which they are propelled. Terrible
disasters are fresh in our memories. Such
perils call for prayer for divine protection
for those who travel by land or by water.
When travelling by air becomes a recog-
nized mode of transit, and not a hazardous
experiment — rash or brave according to the
spirit and intention with which it is un-
dertaken,— it w^ill be natural and proper to
include this likewise in our prayers. With
loving reverent thoughts of blessed Mary
and her Child the Christian Church has
ever paid honour to motherhood, and sur-
rounded child-life with tokens of her res-
pect and care. So we are taught to pray
for all women in the perils of child-bear-
ing, and for young children. The prac-
[87]
AN EXPOSITION OF
tical revival of the Churching office would
be one wav in which to witness to the sa-
credness of motherhood, as nothing to be
ashamed of, but a dignity for which to
thank God, asking at the same time His
aid in fulfilling the responsibilities which
it involves.
The sick in general claim a share in our
prayers, (1) that if it be God's will, they
may be restored to health, (2) that in any
case their affliction may be hallowed to
them. Both these thoughts belong to a
sane and Christian view of sickness. Pain
and suffering we regard as abstractedly
contrary to God's will, a hostile invasion
of His order. At the same time we are
taught, by observation as by Scripture, to
recognize the use He makes of them for
])urifying and refining the life and charac-
ter of men and women. Accordingly we are
bound to do what we can to alleviate suf-
fering and restore health, praying the
while that, so far and so long as the suffer-
ing is allowed by God, it may serve His
purposes and promote the sufferer's high-
[88]
THE LITAXY
est welfare.*" Hospitals were in their
origin a distinctly Christian institution."
Certainly in our day the healing art is
held in high honour by the Christian
Church, with its devoted followers in the
medical and nursing professions.
Visiting the sick and those in prison
were among the works of mercy by which
our Lord declared the nations would be
tested at the Judgment.^'
Accordingly w^e pray Him to shew
His pity upon all prisoners and captives.
The two words we may understand as re-
ferring, ^^captives" to those in the hands
of enemies, and "prisoners" to those suffer-
ing punishment for their crimes. For all
we beg His pity, who was unjustly accused,
cruelly mistreated, and put to a felon's
death. Crucified between two robbers He
"^^ I have discussed this question at some length
in a booklet, Pain and Suffering, their place in the
world. (Young Churchman Co., 1909.)
®' See Dr. Liddon, Sermons preached on special
occasions, p. 210.
«^Matt. XXV. 36, 43.
[89]
AX EXroSITIOX OF
won a coiiipaiiiou in suffering to penitence
and promised him a place with Him in
Paradise." We would pray, and use all
our influence, for the improvement of our
gaols and prisons, that they may be so or-
dered as to become in truth houses of cor-
rection and reformation, wherein wrong-
doers may be brought to a better mind, and
whence, when discharged, they may start
afresh on a new career of self-respect and
usefulness.
(c) Next we turn to think of the be-
reaved, the desolate and oppressed. ^'That
it may please Thee to defend, and provide
for, the fatherless children, and widows,
and all who are desolate and oppressed."
God has continually proclaimed Himself
the Protector of the fatherless and the
widow, warning of His righteous anger
against such as oppress or defraud these
in a condition of helplessness." These
have ever been the objects of the Church's
special solicitude. To St. John who,
Luke xxiii. 39-43.
Deut. X. 18; Ps. Ixxii. 12.
[90]
THE LITANY
standing by his Master's cross, proved his
worthiness for the trust, the Lord when
dying commended the care of His be-
reaved Mother."' The group and the inci-
dent stand in the Gospel as the example
and sanction of the new relationships
formed in the Christian Church, and in
particular for charitable institutions
wherein a home is provided for the or-
phan and the desolate.
After the enumeration of these varied
groups of persons with their special needs,
there comes the touching petition, ''That
it may please Thee to have mercy upon all
men." To Jesus, the Son of man, we
pray, the Pattern and Ideal of the human
race, the representative not of one nation
only, but of human kind; this He became
through the taking of our nature by His
pre-existing divine person. To Him we
pray for all men, Avhatever the colour of
their skin, the place of their abode, their
tongue, their education or stage of civiliza-
Jolin xix. 26, 27.
[91
AN EXPOSITION OF
tiou, whatever their present moral condi-
tion. He deigns to call them brethren,
even the least of them/' They were created
in God's image; they have been re-
deemed (potentially) by the precious blood
of the incarnate Son, the Holy Spirit
would make them temples of His indwell-
ing presence. With this design and these
capacities all men have a claim on our re-
spect, our prayers, our aid."' To join in this
petition of the Litany, and then to declare
oneself uninterested in foreign — or any —
missions is a curious inconsistency. We
are bound to do all in our power to help
all men to become true men; their tem-
poral needs relieved, but raised above the
mere life of the flesh, with their deeper
longings also satisfied, the mind enlighten-
ed, the heart purified, the conscience
trained in the knowledge and love of God
made known in Jesus Christ. ^'Thou hast
given Him authority over all flesh, that He
should give eternal life to as many as Thou
««Heb. ii. 11; Matt. xxv. 40.
*' I Peter ii. 17.
[92]
THE LITANY
hast given Him. And this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
, 1, 68
sent.
We may well pray in the words of the
great missionary, St. Francis Xavier:
O God of all the nations of the earth, re-
member the multitudes of the heathen, who,
though created in Thine image, are perish-
ing in their ignorance, and according to the
propitiation of Thy Son Jesus Christ,
grant that by the prayers and labours of
Thy holy Church they may be delivered
from all superstition and unbelief, and
brought to worship Thee, through Him
whom Thou hast sent to be our Salvation,
the Resurrection and the Life of all the
faithful, the same Thy Son Jesus Christ
our Lord.
From our Litany we sadly miss a peti-
tion, which always found a place in older
forms of intercession, for the departed —
those near and dear to us, and others too
«Mohn xvil 2, 3.
[93]
AN EXPOSITION OF
who have departed this world.'' They have
not gone beyond the reach or the need of
our Lord's care. To Him we would com-
mend them, as Stephen commended his own
departing spirit to the Lord who had Him-
self passed that way before;'" beseeching
Him to do His utmost for their souls' true
weal, cleansing, enlightening, restoring.
^° In an appendix to the Translations of the
Primitive Liturgies Dr. Neale gives a collection
of intercessions for the faithful departed from a
number of early liturgies beside those which are
translated at length in the book. He says, "The
more they are examined, the more clearly two
points will appear. 1. That prayers for the dead,
and more especially the oblation of the blessed
Eucharist for them, have been from the beginning
the practice of the Universal Church. 2. And
this without any idea of a purgatory of pain, or
of any state from which the departed soul has
to be delivered as from one of misery.'' It might
be added that in nearly all there is a pleading for
mercy and forgiveness, such as the following:
"Blot out, forgive, and remit all their sins, known
and unknown, voluntary and involuntary; for
none hath appeared upon earth without sin, ex-
cepting Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord God and
Saviour Jesus Christ, by Whom also we desire to
obtain mercy and the remission of sins which is
for His sake, both for them and for ourselves."
^"Acts vii. 59; Luke xxiii. 40.
[94]
THE LITANY
quickening, and preparing them for per-
fect service in perfect life.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
And let light perpetual shine upon them.''
The Lord grant unto them, that they may
find mercy of the Lord in that day.'"
"^ This prayer or anthem ( founded on the Vul-
gate of II [IV] Esdras ii. 34, 35) from its first
word gives the name Requiem to the Latin Ser-
vice for the dead. Its use in this connection is
probably earlier than A. D. GOO.
" II Tim. i. 18.
[95]
AT the end of the Supplications three
more detached petitions follow, for
enemies, for the fruits of the earth, for
true repentance.
(a) "That it may please Thee to for-
give our enemies, persecutors, and slan-
derers, and to turn their hearts."
The forgiveness of injuries is a law of
the Christian religion. God loved men
when dead in sins and alienated from
Him, and sought to reconcile us to Him-
self.''' It was man, not God (mark you),
whose attitude needed to be changed.
Jesus prayed on the cross for those who
murdered Him, excusing their wrong,
pleading their ignorance of what they did."*
He commands His disciples, "Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good
to them that hate you, and pray for them
that despitefully use you and persecute
'^Eph. ii. 4.
'* Luke xxiii. 34.
[97]
AX EXPOSITION OF
joii." '^ If this is how we should requite
persecution for our religion's sake, how
much more are we bound to pardon trivial
or petty slights and misunderstandings!
ReconciliatioUj of course, requires the ac-
tion of both parties. We cannot make
friends with one who persistently stands
aloof or adheres to a hostile attitude. God
requires repentance on our part as a con-
dition for His forgiveness.'" But we must
not lay down impossible terms for recon-
ciliation, but must shew ourselves in a
readiness to meet those who have been es-
tranged. One of the best ways to over-
come unkindly and resentful feelings is
to pray for those who have caused them.
So we learn to look at persons from God's
point of view, and not merely as they come
up against us. And we should always re-
member that whatever injury any may do
to us, they do themselves a far greater
hurt. They may injure our property, our
person, our name ; but it is their own moral
"Matt. V. 44.
'"Ezek, xxxiii. 11, 14-lG; Luke xvii. 3, 4.
[98]
THE LITAXY
character they hurt, and that in us they
cannot reach, save by our yielding to temp-
tation— or provocation. Accordingly we
pray for their conversion to a better mind,
that together as fellow penitents we and
they may find mercy and forgiveness of
our common Lord.
(b) ''That it may please Thee to give
and preserve to our use the kindly fruits
of the earth, so that in due time we may
enjoy them."
We may be reminded in this petition of
two phrases in the Nicene Creed, or of
two great truths therein expressed. (1)
We profess our belief in God as the Maker
of heaven and earth, and of all things visi-
ble as well as invisible; (2) and we de-
clare that the good Lord, Jesus Christ, to
whom we pray in the Litany, was, as the
Word of God, the Father's Agent through
whom all things were made." Our relig-
ion must not get away from earth. The
religion of the Incarnation is that which
comes down to earth, bringing God into
John i. 3.
[99]
6t
AX EXPOSITION OF
our very midst. Accordingly as we arc
taught by Jesus to ask our heavenly Father
for our daily bread, it is fitting to pray to
our Lord to give and preserve to our use
the kindly (that is the natural) fruits of
the earth.'^
The older observance of the Rogation
Days imploring God's blessing on the
'® Compare the following prayer ( saturated with
Scriptural language) from the Liturgy of St.
Mark (for use in the Church at Alexandria — with
its reference to the Nile) : "Send down richly
good showers on the places that need them and
desire them; rejoice and renew by their descent
the face of the earth that in their drops it may
be made glad, and may spring up. Raise up the
waters of the river to their full measure; rejoice
and renew by their ascent the face of the earth;
water her furrows, multiply her increase. Bless,
O Lord, the fruits of the earth. Preserve them
continually whole and unhurt; preserve them to
us for seed and for harvest. Bless also now, O
Lord, the crown of the year of Thy goodness, for
the poor of Thy people, for the widow, the orphan
and the stranger, for all of us who hope in Thee,
and who are called by Thy holy Xame: for the
eyes of all wait upon Thee, and Thou givest them
their meat in due season. Thou that givest meat
to all flesh, fill our hearts with joy and gladness,
that we always, having all sufficiency in all things,
may abound unto every good work in Christ Jesus
our Lord."
[100]
THE LITANY
fields, and our more recent institution of
Thanksgiving Day ''for the fruits of the
earth, and all the other blessings of God's
merciful Providence/' both alike are valu-
able as v^itnessing to our recognition of
God's hand in what may be called temporal
and worldly concerns.
Sunshine and rain, freedom from un-
seasonable weather and violent storms
are needed along with man's diligent care
and labour to produce good harvests. As
we have before considered, to ask for God's
blessing does not exclude our exertions
(which we ask Him to bless and prosper) ;
one way in which God may give and pre-
serve to our use the kindly fruits of the
earth is in teaching us to employ the best
methods of agriculture, those best suited
to our conditions, learning the laws which
He has impressed on nature, and calling
forth the forces He has stored up therein.
(c) The last suffrage is for true repent-
ance— for ourselves and all — that on our
hearty sorrow, and humble confession,
with a firm purpose of amendment (these
are the three elements of a true repent-
[101]
AX EXPOSITION OF
ance, and all are the result of God's grace)
our Lord would mercifully forgive us our
sins (the faults of more wilful commis-
sion), our negligences (the less deliberate
failures), and our ignorances. Often-
times our ignorance has been sinful, for
we ought to have known, had we not been
blinded through sloth or selfishness,
through pride or worldliness ; we should
have known had we kept our conscience
true and pure. This with reference to the
past. For the future we beg for the power
of the Holy Spirit to amend and rule our
lives according to the true standard of
God's holy Word. This, we may remem-
ber, is always the relation of God's Word,
whether personal or impersonal, and His
Spirit. The Word gives us the standard
or rule, the Spirit enables us to correspond
therewith.
Here are concluded the supplications of
the Litany, or General Supplication as it
is rightly called. Our hearts ought to be
expanded as we join in these wide-reach-
[ 102 ]
THE LITANY
ing intercessions, which may well form
a model also for our own private prayers.
They follow the hint of the Lord's Prayer,
where all is said in the plural, "Ow
Father, give us . . . deliver liS," teaching
us to ask for others what we desire for
ourselves, to share with others what we
value for ourselves, to do all in our power
to ward off from others what Ave dread for
ourselves and for those specially near and
dear to us.
In the Litany, as in the Prayer for
the whole state of Christ's Church in the
Eucharistic office, we should learn to ap-
ply and refer the general petitions to par-
ticular persons and needs with which we
are ourselves familiar, to bring the par-
ticular case, so to speak, under the gen-
eral prayer. A more common practice of
asking the prayers of the congregation for
particular cases would help to this, and the
mention of names would lead to emphasize
the family feeling which should be cher-
ished in the Christian Church. The use
of special prayers for the sick, or the af-
flicted, or for travellers, when they have
[103]
AX EXPOSITION OF
just been prajed for in the general in-
tercession, is a mistake; it seems to imply
that the general prayer does not really
count for anything. We should learn to
say the general prayers with special inten-
tion and application.
The Supplications ended, they are fol-
lowed by passionate entreaties to our Lord,
as the Son of God, to hear us, and as the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins
of the world, to have mercy upon us, and
to grant us His peace. We may pause on
the prayer of the Agnus Dei, which is re-
peated in the Gloria in excelsis at the Eu-
charist. We appeal to our Lord as He was
pointed out by St. John the Forerunner,
as the antetype of the sacrificial victims
under the old law."
He is the Lamb of God, the victim
whom God both provides and accepts.*"
As over the head of the animal were con-
fessed the sins of those for whom the sac-
rifice was offered," so He takes upon Him-
'»John i. 29.
«"Geii. xxii, 8.
^^Levit. xvi. 21.
[104]
THE LITANY
self as the representative of the race the
burden and shame of our misdoings, and
bears our sins in His own body to the
cross, humbling Himself before God on
their account and fighting out our battle/^
Thus He makes reparation for our of-
fences, and reverses the stream of human
life, and communicates from Himself to
all who will receive it a new life of holi-
ness and obedience, of truth and purity
and love. Thus does the Lamb of God
continually take away the sins of the
world. Thus does He shew us mercy and
grant us peace — His peace of reconcilia-
tion with God, of harmony with ourselves,
and so of concord with our brethren.
Then succeed the short earnest cries,
Lord have mercy upon us, Christ have
mercy upon us, which were a prominent
feature in all ancient litanies. These may
be understood either as a return to the
invocation of each person of the Trinity
with which the Litany began, or (which
was probably their earlier meaning) as
«=^Isa. liii. 4, etc.; I Pet. ii. 24; II Cor. v. 21;
Col. ii. 13-15; Eph. i. 3-14, ii. 13-18.
[105]
AX EXPOSITIOX OF
all addressed to Jesus under the dilTereut
titles of ''Lord" and ''Christ."
The petitions are then all gathered up
in the Lord's Praver, and the ordinary
rule of prayer is resumed, in accordance
with which it is addressed to the Father,
through the mediation and under the lead-
ership of the incarnate Son, with the aid
of the Holy Spirit.
When according to the permission of
the American Prayer Book the interme-
diate portion is omitted, if the Litany is
said (as is not infrequently the case) as
a separate service, it should be continued
so as to include the Lord's Prayer, with-
out which no service should be regarded
as complete. And when the Litany is said
as an introduction to the Holy Commun-
ion, it might end, as is ])rescribed at Or-
dinations, with the prayer, "We humbly
beseech Thee, O Father," omitting the
concluding Prayer of St. Chrysostom and
the Grace.
When the earlier part of the Litany was
sung (this of course would only be in large
churches or out of doors), the prayers that
[106]
THE LITANY
follow from the ''Our Father" were said
kneeling before the altar or at the entrance
to the chancel.
The prayer, "O God, merciful Father,"
was the collect in the Mass provided in
the Sarum book "for one in tribulation
of heart."
The suffrages "O Lord, arise and help
us," etc. (from the beginning and end of
Psalm xliv), with the following Versicles
and Kesponses, are taken from a special
intercession for use in time of war, but
are fitting at any season to express the
needs of all Christians, called to a perpet-
ual warfare in Christ's name against sin,
the world, and the Devil.''
*^ It is worth noticing that these prayers have
got into a curiously confused order. ( 1 ) There
should be an Amen at the end of the prayer "O
God, merciful Father," as at the end of other
prayers. (2) Tlie sentence "0 Lord, arise and
help" is not a response to the preceding prayer,
but belongs to what follows. It is an antiphon
to the Psalm represented by one verse, "We have
heard with our ears," etc. (3) The Gloria Patri
should come in before the repetition of the an-
tiphon after the Psalm.
[107]
AN EXPOSITION OF
The Prayer of St. Chrysostom is not
found among the writings of the Saint
(A. D. 407), but it occurs in later copies
(probably belonging to the ninth century)
of the liturgy of the Church of Constan-
tinople which bears his name, near the be-
ginning of the service for Holy Commun-
ion. It had no i3lace in Western service-
books, but was introduced into the English
Litany by Archbishop Cranmer in 1544.
The prayer, which is addressed to our
Lord Jesus Christ, is based on His prom-
ise, ^^If two of you shall agree on earth
as touching anything that they shall ask,
it shall be done for them of my Father
which is in heaven ; for where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them." ^* The efficacy
of united prayer consists not in pressure
brought to bear by a multitude of sup-
pliants, but in the elimination of merely
selfish desires as we associate ourselves
with others, and others with ourselves, in
our petitions, seeking the common welfare.
^♦Matt. xviii. 10, 20.
[108]
THE LITANY
The ^^two or three'' represent the body of
the faithful united with one another under
the headship of the common Lord.
The petitions on which, so to speak, we
insist (comp. Ps. xxvii. 4) after having
poured out all our desires before our Lord,
are those which we are sure are according
to His will and such as He desires for us
— in this world knowledge of His will,
and in the world to come life everlasting.'^
Other blessings (as we regard them) we
leave with Him to bestow or to withold as
He sees best. So the Litan}^ ends, and our
instructions thereon, with a reminder
about the true doctrine of Christian
prayer ; it is not to bend God's will to ours,
but to lift our wills to God.*" The benedic-
tion or ^'Grace" with which the service
concludes is taken from the end of St.
Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians.
This is one of the earliest of the apostolic
«» I John V. 14.
^^' I may refer for a fuller treatment of various
questions touched on in these instructions to my
Bohlen Lectures on The Christian Doctrine of
Prayer.
[ 109 ]
AX EXPOSITION OF
writings, of much earlier date than the
end of St. Matthew's Gospel, with the
commission to baptize into the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost — written indeed not more than
twenty-six, or at the most twenty-eight,
years after the Ascension, and so bearing
witness to the common belief of the ear-
liest Christians concerning the Trinity."
Here is (1) a clear association of Jesns
Christ and the Holy Spirit with God as
the object of worship and the source of
blessing ;**' and (2) an equally plain recog-
nition of personal existence on the part
of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
The incarnate Son is mentioned first, prob-
ably because by reason of His having
taken our nature He is thought of as stand-
ing nearest to us; His grace (which in-
*' Sanday in Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible,
vol. II. p. 213, art. "God."
** See St. Athanasius, Discourse III Against the
Arians, eh. xxv'. 12, ''No one would pray to receive
from God and the Angels, or from any other
creature, nor would any one say, 'May God and
the Angel give thee' ; but from the Father and the
Son, because of their oneness and the oneness of
their giving" (Xicene Fathers, vol. iv. p. 400).
[110]
THE LITANY
eludes both favour and help) introduces us
to the love of God the Father ("Xo man
conieth unto the Father but through
Me" ''') while the communion or fellow-
ship— the companionship — of the Holj
Ghost tells us that God is not to be thought
of as an absent being in a distant heaven,
or as manifesting Himself only nineteen
centuries ago, but as coming now to dwell
within us by His Spirit, making us par-
takers of the divine nature,^" communica-
ting to us God's truth and love and purity,
our constant Helper and Guide amid the
duties and business and pleasures of our
daily life, to which we go forth from our
worship and supplications in the sanc-
tuary.
John xiv. 6.
II Pet. i. 4.
[Ill]
Note ox Internatioxal Peace
Pp. 43 and 70
Especially at this time it may be help-
ful to recall the following noble statement
of principles from a paper entitled "A
Christian Policy of Peace," put forth in
1889 by Bishop Westcott (then a Canon
of Westminster) in his capacity as Chair-
man of the Provisional Committee of the
Christian union for Promoting Interna-
tional Concord.
''While armaments are everywhere grow-
ing, a conviction is also rapidly gaining
ground that material force cannot deter-
mine right or establish lasting peace.
Above all, it is more and more clearly
acknowledged that the attitude of great
nations one towards another is inconsist-
ent with the spirit of the Christian Faith.
^'Hitherto, it must be confessed, the
lessons of the Gospel have not been applied
to the problems of international life. T)ur-
[112]
THE LITANY
ing the last three centuries attention has
been directed mainly to questions of per-
sonal conduct. But the time seems to
have now come when Christians as Chris-
tians are required to realise and give effect
to their creed in the discharge of the widest
social duties — the duties not only of class
to class, but also of nation to nation — as
members of one race. . . .
"Christianity rests upon the central
fact that the Word became flesh. This fact
establishes not only a brotherhood of men,
but also a brotherhood of nations; for
history has shown that nations are an ele-
ment in the fulfilment of the Divine coun-
sel, by which humanity advances towards
its appointed end.
"This larger truth we have still to mas-
ter. We have learnt in some degree that
individual men gain and suffer together;
that they are strong by sacrifice ; that they
are made for mutual service: we have not
yet learnt that it is so with nations. It
may not indeed be possible to see at once
how the truth will be applied in particu-
lar cases. Action must be prepared by
[113]
AX EXPOSITION OF THE LITANY
thought and supported by a calm and
strong public opinion. Meanwhile, how-
ever, in order that the opinion may be
formed, we, as Christians, are bound to
confess our faith in the truth, before God
and before man, and the simple confession
will not be in vain."
— Life and Letters of Brool'e Foss West-
cott, vol. ii, pp. 21, 22.
[114]
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